The present invention is directed to a system for dispensing and applying a work material to various work areas. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an applicator system that is lightweight for ease of use yet efficient in operation. The reconfigurable applicator system thus minimizes the strain and fatigue associated with its operation.
Various applicator devices for dispensing sealant, adhesive, epoxy, caulk, and other such pasty work materials are known in the art. They include handheld gun-type devices in which a cartridge containing a work material is loaded into a given applicator device and engaged by the device's drive mechanism. Actuation of the drive mechanism then causes the extrusive flow of material from the loaded cartridge for application on a particular work surface or area.
Many application tasks require use of an applicator device over extended periods, frequently with widely varied manipulations to accommodate various features and constraints of the application/work area. Overall weight and bulk, therefore, tend to be important factors in determining the actual usefulness of an applicator device in practice for such applications. Not surprisingly, applicator devices of simple, lightweight construction are highly sought after by users in all but the most specialized of applications.
Yet, such simple, lightweight construction typically comes at an undesirable cost functionally. Numerous applicator devices known in the art employ various lightweight materials to lower overall weight and bulkiness. These known devices, however, suffer from a notable compromise in efficacy. For example, where a metallic frame material is substituted with a plastic or other less weighty material (typically non-metallic), the substitute material tends to be less rigid and exhibit less stiffness when under loading pressure. Hence, the resulting frame—though lighter—is invariably more prone to flexing when subjected to load conditions during use, such as when a cartridge held in the frame is driven thereagainst by a plunger type device for extrusive dispensing of its contents.
This presents notable drawbacks. First, the energy applied to drive the dispensing is not efficiently transferred for that purpose, since more of the drive energy is absorbed by the frame itself (towards frame deflection and flexing under the applied load). Regardless of whether the dispensing is driven by power assisted or manual means, then, more work is required to dispense the same amount of work material (as compared to a more rigid frame of metallic or other comparable construction). This is especially so where higher viscosity work materials are to be dispensed.
Another drawback is the structural compromise which occurs, both in terms of an applicator device's structural integrity and its overall fit and finish. Where the device's frame entails an assembly of multiple frame components, for instance, the flexing of frame components tends to loosen joints and seams, causing premature wearing of adjoining components with repeated use. Flexing at the joints and seams would also disrupt the stability and/or consistency with which the work material may be dispensed. The undesirable creakiness of assembled components during operation would also leave the feel of an imprecise, un-tuned mechanism of inferior quality.
While advances in materials technology continue to produce advanced materials of increased strength and rigidity which exhibit greater stiffness with lesser weight, such technologies are not widely accessible for use in most caulking or other such material dispensing/applying contexts. The price points typical of applicator devices in these contexts preclude the use of the most advanced materials technologies. The devices would simply be too expensive, prohibitively so in most construction, manufacturing, and other such applications for applicator devices of the type disclosed herein.
The pool of lightweight materials realistically available for use in such applicator devices is therefore limited in practice to those which remain generally inferior in strength and rigidity to heavier materials like metals, metal alloys, and others of such higher density composition (even if not necessarily metallic). The lightweight materials typically used in the art include various plastic, fiberglass, and other non-metallic materials, which heretofore have not sufficiently rivaled heavier materials like steel in overall strength and rigidity to overcome the noted drawbacks. Simply employing lightweight materials but with added (compensatory) bulk to resist deflection is no answer, for any gains in functional efficacy would be nullified by the added weight.
Attempts have been made in the art to employ the heavier materials, just less of it. For example, frame structures have been formed in applicator devices with certain portions, like a cradle structure for receiving a material containing cartridge, reduced or largely stripped away. But such attempts have come at significant cost—for instance at the cost of stable support, leaving the cartridge vulnerable to disruptive misalignment or even unintended release when the applicator device is manipulated during use.
There is, therefore, a need for an applicator system that may be easily handled and operated with minimal physical strain. There is a need for an applicator system which may be comfortably operated by users to accurately dispense a work material. There is a need for such applicator system which is light in weight yet sufficiently strong and rigid in structure to preserve efficient energy transfer for extrusive dispensing of a work material. There is furthermore a need for such applicator system which maintains stable support of a cartridge containing the work material to be dispensed.